When libraries purchase new books, the books must be prepared before they can be loaned out. The purpose of preparing the books is so the library can track them both internally and when the books are loaned out to members of the public. Although it varies somewhat from library to library, most libraries prepare their books in the following manner.
A borrower's card pocket is placed in each book, often on the back or front inside cover. This pocket holds a borrower's card which is filled out with appropriate information and retained by the library when the book is loaned out.
The pocket itself often has a form printed thereon. The form is for keeping track of the date when the book is due back at the library. As a result, the user can keep track of the due date.
The card pocket is imprinted with identifying information about the specific book to which it is attached. Common information to include on the pocket is the name of the book, the Dewey decimal number, the name of the library or organization loaning the book, and another number uniquely identifying the book.
Labels are also placed on the spine of the library book identifying the Dewey decimal number of the book and sometimes additional information as well. Also, another identification label is applied to the back of the book or the inside cover of the book. This label is often printed with a bar code so that the label can be scanned with a bar code reader to automatically pull up the specific information about that book. This label can also include the name of the library or organization loaning the book, the name of the book, the Dewey decimal number of the book, and other information about the book.
Finally, a borrower's card is prepared which has a form on it for keeping track of the borrowing activity of the book, for instance, the name of the borrower and the date due. The borrower's card is also imprinted with identifying information about the book. Often this includes the name of the book, the Dewey decimal number of the book, and a number uniquely identifying the book.
The prior art method for preparing all of these identification components to be attached to the library book is a very labor intensive process. All of the different pockets, labels, and cards are printed with identifying information at separate times and sometimes at separate locations. One of the reasons for this batch method of preparing these identifying materials is that each of the components is part of a larger group of the same components and therefore the same component for several different library books are all printed at the same time. For instance, there may be a sheet of numerous spine labels, only two of which are needed for any particular book, but the whole sheet of spine labels are printed at the same time and correspond to numerous different books.
It is easy to see that this type of batch processing leads to several disadvantages. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage is the amount of labor that is necessary to collate all of the identifying components for any one book. The card pocket, the spine labels, the identification labels, and the borrower's card, which have all be prepared separately, must be matched up. Then, these materials must be kept together in some fashion until they rendezvous with the appropriate book at which time they are attached to the book. This multiplicity of operations and steps not only results in high labor time, it also results in errors in terms of the wrong items being matched together. It also results in more opportunities for the individual identifying components to become lost or separated from the rest of the components for that book.
With respect to the borrower's card pocket, prior art designs of pockets presents several drawbacks. One of the most common card pocket designs is made by attaching two pieces of paper material together by gluing together the outer portions of the side and bottom edges of the two pieces of paper. The top piece of paper has a square window cut out of it and the bottom piece of paper usually has some sort of form printed thereon for keeping track of the due date of the library book. The borrower's card can then be placed in the pocket formed by this particular construction of the two pieces of paper. The back of this pocket usually has an adhesive applied to it which is releasably covered by a liner until such time that the card is attached to the book.
As mentioned, this design has several drawbacks. Just as other businesses are doing, libraries and companies preparing library books are switching from using impact printers to laser printers. The switch to laser printers gives rise to the need for thinner identifying materials as thicker materials or materials with uneven thicknesses can often jam laser printers. The prior art card pocket construction described above does not work well in many styles of laser printers. The glue and relatively heavy paper materials as well as the need for two pieces of paper and also a liner result in a pocket that is fairly thick and not uniform in thickness. This does not lend itself to laser printers. Furthermore, again because of the glued construction, these card pockets do not bend well and are likely to crack or break when they are bent. Furthermore, the drying of the glue causes the paper to curl somewhat. Finally, these pockets are constructed in such a way that they need to be hand trimmed and cut before they are ready to be applied to a library book.
Another prior art card pocket construction is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,424,636, and 3,592,381, each having the same inventor. U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,381 shows a pocket formed by a piece of paper material having adhesive on its rear surface in some areas and no adhesive in other areas. The rear surface of the paper is covered by a liner attached to the adhesive and when the liner is removed, a portion of the liner remains attached to the middle portion of the adhesive, forming the pocket when the paper is attached to the book. The design of this pocket is somewhat complex in that the paper not only has adhesive on its rear surface, it also has adhesive on a portion of its front surface which is then folded back to be attached to the book. Apparently, the purpose of this construction is to insure that the pocket can be pulled out from the book some distance when the card is inserted.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,424,636 shows a pocket of similar design with the same complex pattern of adhesive application to the rear of the pocket. More specifically, both patents show at least a couple stripes where no adhesive is applied. Both these patents show the same turned-under design requiring adhesive on the front of the paper as well as on the back. Furthermore, this patent shows the further complexity of spacer materials placed between the paper and the liner where the card is inserted into the pocket, again, presumably so that the pocket can be slightly pulled away from the book.
These prior art pockets are relatively complex and do not lend themselves to manufacturing products from easily available materials. More specifically, readily-available pressure sensitive label stock having adhesive on the back side of a piece of paper covered by a liner could not be used in these designs because of the need for the specifically placed zones of no adhesive and also because these designs require that there also be an adhesive strip applied to the front side of the paper.
The present invention solves the problems of the prior art, as well as other problems, by providing a card pocket which is easily manufactured from commercially available label stock and one that is adapted for printing by laser printers. Furthermore, the invention provides a system wherein all of the identifying components for any one library book are all printed with identifying information at the same time and are all located on the same page or sheet of material so all of the information is not only printed at the same time, but stays together until it is matched with the appropriate book and applied to that book.